Mind-Blowing Magic Act Earns Golden Buzzer on AGT 2025 – Judges Are Stunned!
ITV Britain’s Got Talent halted as fans concerned by Simon Cowell news
Joe Crutchley & Katie Westwood
Sun 23 March 2025 at 11:46 pm GMT+7·2-min read
Britain’s Got Talent viewers were left puzzled last night after Simon Cowell was missing for parts of the last episode of the long-running programme. The ITV reality show aims to find Britain’s next big superstar and returned to our screens on Saturday night, March 22.
Familiar faces Alesha Dixon, Amanda Holden and Bruno Tonioli were back on our screens as judges, along with long-standing presenters Ant and Dec. Guest judge KSI also made an appearance.
However, one judge who was missing at several points in the episode was Simon Cowell. Instead of Simon, KSI had stepped in to take his seat on the panel, along with Amanda, Alesha and Bruno next to him, reports Wales Online.
It’s fair to say Simon’s absence got plenty of viewers talking online. On X, one person said: “A show without Simon?!” Someone else wrote: “Ahhh Simon was off when Liam Payne died,” along with a sad face emoji.
Simon missed the audition that took place at the Winter Gardens in Blackpool in the first week of October 2024 following the death of Liam Payne. The singer died aged 31 on October 16, 2024, after suffering a fatal fall from a hotel balcony in Argentina.
The audition process was initially put on hold following news of Liam’s passing. An ITV spokesperson said in a statement at the time: “Due to the tragic passing of Liam Payne, we have decided to postpone the Britain’s Got Talent auditions. Our thoughts are with Liam’s friends, family and all who loved him.”
One week after Liam’s passing, the auditions resumed without Simon, who was temporarily replaced by YouTuber KSI. Simon first met Liam when he auditioned as a solo-act on The X Factor at the age of 14 in 2008 – but was not booted out before the live show.
After being told to “return in two years”, Liam made his comeback to the X Factor in 2010 for the singing competition’s seventh series. Liam was eventually paired with Harry Styles, Niall Horan, Louis Tomlinson and Zayn Malik, with the five-piece forming One Direction.
Under Simon’s mentorship, One Direction came third on the show and went on to become the biggest UK boyband of the 21st century.
Britain’s Got Talent airs every Saturday at 7pm on ITV1.
